Coach Meyer speaks about the lean times...
Zack Gase, Sun Times:
“I couldn’t find a job,” Meyer said. “Eventually a position opened up at Illinois State and I started there for $6,000 a year. I lived in the back of my car for a year-and-a-half. My fiancée (Shelley) then became my wife, and she supported me for about four years.”
Starting a family on an assistant coach’s salary wasn’t easy.
“When I was out recruiting, I couldn’t afford to come home every weekend. Sometimes I’d be gone five, six weeks at a time,” Meyer said.
“One weekend I got home, and the next morning I got up and went to take a shower. We had two little girls at the time and the one, GiGi, says, ‘Mommy, is that daddy?”
http://columbus.suntimes.com/cbus-sports/ohio-state-buckeyes/7/98/159865...
Meyer has had a slew of AC's go on to HC positions. Meyer has a reputation for encouraging AC's to "go to the next level". This rep has made an AC job under Meyer one of the most sought-after gigs in America. They say Meyer has a thick file of prospects for every coaching position. The guy has everything calculated.
The above article gives added insight into Meyer's empathy for his AC's.
